A strange week for the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report, as there are only five featured reviews for releases coming out this week. However, there are also eight featured reviews for releases that arrived late, plus another eight or so that came out this week where the screener is late. (There's a couple where I don't know if they will or will not arrive.) The Pick of the Week is one such release, How to Train Your Dragon on Blu-ray / DVD Combo, but be warned, that movie isn't released to the home market till Friday.
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It's Friday. That must mean we have a ton of prizes to give away and another box office prediction contest to do it. In order to win this one, one must simply predict Drillbit Taylor's three-day, opening weekend box office.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win Suburban Girl on DVD and Dedication on DVD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win General Hospital: Night Shift - The Complete First Season on DVD.
Additionally, both the above winners will also take home The Darjeeling Limited on DVD
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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There were plenty of new releases to hit the sales chart this week, as well as an older release that returned to the top five. Number one was Beowulf with 902,000 units sold for $17.08 million in revenue in its first week.
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It's the Oscar-delayed edition of the DVD Release Report and we have a good mix of releases for so early in the year. Granted, there are not as many prime first-run releases, but there are a few worth picking up. This includes the DVD Pick of the Week, Death at a Funeral - Buy from Amazon.
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Bee Movie slipped to sixth place this weekend with $14.34 million on 4820 screens in 49 markets for a total of $131.97 million. This includes a first place opening in South Korea where it earned $1.96 million on 334 screens over the weekend and $2.30 million in total, but this is not a particularly strong start.
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Margot at the Wedding won the race on the per theater chart with just over $80,000 in two theater for an average of $40,518. No Country for Old Men was pushed into second place, but it managed seventh place on the overall chart with over $3 million in just 148 theaters, giving the film an impressive average of $20,782. The only other film to top $10,000 was Holly with $12,442 in its lone theater.
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While there were plenty of new releases this past weekend, most failed to make an impact at the box office and that left Control an opportunity to capture first place with $19,121. This represents a drop-off of only 30% in its per theater average despite doubling its theater count.
Meanwhile, Wristcutters: A Love Story opened in second place with an average of $14,269 in three theaters. Finally, Blade Runner managed more than $10,000 on the per theater chart for the third weekend in a row with $13,004.
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Blade Runner climbed into first place on the Per Theater Chart with an average of $32,681 in two theaters during its second week of re-release. Control debuted in second place with $27,674 in its one theater. Lars and the Real Girl opened with just over $90,000 in 7 theaters for an average of $12,917. This is a good start, better than most limited releases can hope for, but less than I was expecting. The Darjeeling Limited continues to perform marvelously as it expands as it earned an average of $11,425 in nearly 100 theaters. The overall box office leader, Why Did I Get Married? opened with an average of $10,618.
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As has been the case for the past few weeks, we had a limited release with a monster start.
This time it was Michael Clayton and its $700,000 opening in just 15 theaters for an average of $47,994; this bodes very well for the film's wide expansion this weekend.
Second place went to the re-release of Blade Runner, which earned just under $90,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $44,575; this bodes very well for the sales of the Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition, which comes out this December on DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD.
Last week's winner, The Darjeeling Limited, showed strong resilience in the face of expansion, earning an average of $29,559 during its first full weekend.
The same can be said of Lust, Caution as the film went from a single theater to 17 while averaging $21,342.
Finally, Finishing the Game was a surprise entrant into the $10,000 club with $11,903 in its lone theater.
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Another slow week, but at least we have a clear contender for the Weekly Website Award. That site is The Kingdom - Official Site, which combines all the usual features with a good mix of extras as well as enough sound and animation to keep surfers interested.
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A couple more award season hopefuls debut this week, including one of the most talked about releases of the season, Lust, Caution. It will be interesting to see if its NC-17 rating will prevent it from earning mainstream success, or even turn off award voters.
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Not a long list this week, but at least we had a clear winner for the Weekly Website Award, Resident Evil: Extinction - Official Site. IN the coming weeks we should see some big sites launch as award season starts to heat up.
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Another big list of movie sites, but not much in the way of top-notch entries. For a movie site to be an award winner, I expect it to have all of the usual features, extras like clips, something interactive like a game, and background sound and animation. The film that best exemplifies that criteria is Stardust - Official Site, which is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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Weekly US DVD Sales

Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue
are available through our research services. For more information, please contact us at research@the-numbers.com.